Miranda MacDonnell is on the run. When she inherited a mysterious relic from her mother, she had no idea the dangers it would bring. Now hunted by a relentless foe who will stop at nothing to find her, she has one choice: stow away on the ship of the notorious privateer, Black Hawk.

Rob Hawkins, the half-English privateer known as Black Hawk, has a mission from the Tudor king to find and kill the rogue commander, Sir Ralph Evers. To complete his quest, Hawk must find Miranda, a young woman Evers is pursuing. Caught in a tempest, he is shipwrecked with a “boy” who demonstrates an uncanny ability for saving him. Cast away on the mysterious Isle of the Dead, Hawk realizes that the “boy” traveling with him is actually Miranda MacDonnell and having her means that Evers will come to him. What begins as a ploy —using her as bait—soon changes, however, as he falls in love with her.

Get a sneak peek at May McGoldrick's Tempest in the Highlands (available December 6, 2016) with an exclusive excerpt of a selected scene.

Chapter 1

Tarbert Castle

Kintyre, Western Scotland

Four months later

Though the fires in the tower were nearly out, the acrid smell of smoke hung thick in the air, burning the English ship captain’s lungs. Rob Hawkins glanced down the hill at the village and the harbor. Tarbert Castle would survive, he thought, but too many of its inhabitants had not.

Frowning, he turned his attention back to the cleric.

“Aye, his name was Evers.” The old priest was upset and growing more agitated with each question.

Today marks the release of Blood Vow, the second in the Black Dagger Legacy series, which if you have been living under a rock, is the spin-off series of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. The BDB continues to train only the elite fighters to help them in their continuing battle with the Lessening Society. Yet, no BDB book is without drama, and the BDL series is no exception. Rhage and Mary’s newly minted family is thrown a curveball, which could destroy them.

In that moment, as he sought to relieve any and all of her anxiety—-and his own, for that matter—he nearly came out with the one thing Bitty didn’t know about her adopted parents. Yes, her new old man had a dragon living under his skin, but her new mom had an even fancier secret.

—“You’re never going to be alone, Bitty,” he repeated. “I swear to you.”

How to Train Your Highlander might just as easily have been named How to Train Your Duke—it’s both a “Taming of the Shrew” and an “Enticing of the Recluse.” This is the third in Christy English’s “Broadswords and Ballrooms” series and what an apt title. Wild young Highlander Mary Elizabeth Waters carries at all times—knives and a small flask of Highland whiskey is just two objects always to be found on her person. And she travels with a personal broadsword as well.

The ballroom is the room that Harry Percy, the reclusive, unmarried Duke of Northumberland most wants to avoid for it is there a few day’s hence his forceful grande dame of a mother has arranged for him to choose from one of the marriageable young ladies of the ton. At thirty, with no spare to take the weight off his wide shoulders, it is time for the ducal heir to step up and do his duty.

Is it fate or the machinations of two manipulative mothers that has Mary Elizabeth arriving at the Northumberland estate a few days before the festivities are to commence? When she exits the duchess’s carriage with her brother Robbie and her companion in tow, she says hello to an unusually attractive stable boy who speaks in the “posh tones of the English gentry.”

The Marquis de Sade was a polarizing figure in the BDSM world long before Christian Grey was, and December marks the 202nd anniversary of his death. BDSM and erotic romance has certainly had its day, but many think erotic romance is on its way out. Every few years, each subgenre has been told it's “dead”—paranormal, historical... and now erotic. However, BDSM romance as we know it today is the relative new kid on the block. Do you think it's time to safe word out of erotic romance? If not erotic romance altogether, will something spring up in BDSM's place to intrigue those same readers?

We've been looking forward to this release for a while now and we have a lot of questions before the June 13, 2017 release of Silver Silence: Will we see much loved characters again? Where are the bears?What are you most looking forward to?

Learn more about Silver Silence here:

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh returns to her extraordinary Psy-Changeling world with a story of wild passion and darkest betrayal...

Control. Precision. Family. These are the principles that drive Silver Mercant. At a time when the fledgling Trinity Accord seeks to unite a divided world, with Silver playing a crucial role as director of a worldwide emergency response network, wildness and chaos are the last things she needs in her life. But that’s exactly what Valentin Nikolaev, alpha of the StoneWater Bears, brings with him.

Valentin has never met a more fascinating woman. Though Silver is ruled by Silence—her mind clear of all emotion—Valentin senses a whisper of fire around her. That’s what keeps him climbing apartment buildings to be near her. But when a shadow assassin almost succeeds in poisoning Silver, the stakes become deadly serious…and Silver finds herself in the heart of a powerful bear clan.

Her would-be assassin has no idea what their poison has unleashed...

***
Learn more about or pre-order a copy of Silver Silence by Nalini Singh, available June 13, 2017:

Top Off Your TBR Pile

—Deal Alert: Sidney Bristol's erotic romantic suspense Committed is on sale for $.99 in e-book at Amazon | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | etc.* In Committed, DEA agent Damien quickly falls for a woman he meets at a private retreat, Poppy, who identifies as a switch. Not sure what that is? In an H&H guest post, Bristol explains what it means to be a switch in BDSM.

Bailey Jones survived a serial killer against all odds, but the nightmare isn’t over. However, with the help of LOST’s (Last Option Search Team) very own Asher Young, she’s not alone this time. Bailey is tired of being seen as a victim who can’t move on from the past and Asher is more than willing to help her in that regard as a victim of violent crime himself. But is Bailey hallucinating the victim she helped get away from a deadly killer?

As a master of romantic suspense, Cynthia Eden winds a mesmerizing tale of mystery and romance in the fifth installment of the LOST series. Not only does the main plot of tracking another of the Death Angel’s victims keep readers guessing to the end but the personal mysteries of each character actually drive the hero and heroine closer together. Asher and Bailey, both victims of bloody crimes, aren’t interested in hiding their past. That would be impossible with the media following their every move. Instead, they’ve embraced it and they’re taking control of their lives. Together.

Our Romance Reading Virgin Teddy Pierson took a look at Michelle Diener’s novel Dark Horse (Class 5 Series) back in June 2016. Now that the three book, award winning series is complete, we thought it’d be fun to do a retrospective look on the entire series. I live, breathe, and write science fiction romance all day, every day, so I can’t capture Teddy’s wide-eyed approach to the books, but I will tell you this is one of my favorite and most recommended SFR series.

Warning: There will be spoilers!

The three books are Dark Horse, Dark Deeds and Dark Minds and there’s much solid science fiction story telling involved.

Each book features a plucky, smart human woman who’s been abducted from Earth by an alien race in direct contravention of the interstellar treaties on such things and finds herself in a dire situation as a result. Each woman forms a bond with a different Artificial Intelligence (the Class 5 of the series title) and their alliance drives and informs the resulting stories, as well as the larger series arc.

Today we're thrilled to welcome Amy Jo Cousins (author of Glass Tidings) to Heroes and Heartbreakers. The end of the year brings lots of seasonal festivities, and that's the case more than ever in Romancelandia. Amy Jo is here today to discuss some of her favorite LGBTQ holiday romances. Thanks, Amy J

I looooooove holiday romance season! I’m a huge fan of letting my smushy and sappy emotional heart run free when I write ‘em and when I read ‘em. Every year I do a massive glom of holiday books, both rereading old favorites and snapping up new reads as soon as I spot them.

Wrapped Together by Annabeth Albert is exactly what you want in a holiday romance. It’s a smushy and sweet friends-to-lovers tale, with plenty of family warmth and totally bangin’ sex for two local shop owners who’ve known each other since they were kids. This book is a pure delight and it comes out on December 6. I might read it again two or three more times before Christmas.

When it comes to her heart, Arabella D’Angelo has moved on—even though she still lives in Mirror Lake, Connecticut, a little tourist town with a long memory for mistakes. Ever the dutiful daughter of a cantankerous widower who holds grudges, Bella has spent the past twelve years raising her younger brother and making a name for herself as a successful psychologist. Now, when she isn’t counseling a lonely-hearts club for senior women, she’s humoring her matchmaking girlfriends. Bella resists the romancing of their blind dates, yet her friends hope she’ll fall for a local and scrap plans for a fresh start in Chicago.

Then, just before Bella’s thirtieth birthday, her first love, Roman Spikonos, returns to Mirror Lake. When he moves next door to her family’s garden-center business to run his grandparents’ orchard, it stirs up gossip—and a tempest of passions—just in time for pumpkin harvest. As Roman and Bella once again get caught up in a swirl of desire and heartache, not to mention her overprotective father’s fury, Mirror Lake will soon find out whether the Italian hometown beauty and her unforgettable Greek god can stand a second chance.

Get a sneak peek at Miranda Liasson Can't Stop Loving You (available December 6, 2016) with an exclusive excerpt of a selected scene.

Just then, Bella saw a man walking toward her from across the square. She looked the other way, pretending to be fascinated by a couple of little kids kicking up leaves. Because she’d know that sweeping, confident gait, that straight-as-a-cornstalk carriage, those big, strong shoulders anywhere. And the way her limbs were going weak, the way her heart had catapulted into her stomach like a basketball and her breaths were coming raggedly, her body knew it, too. All that told her that the man striding quickly toward her was no surfer guy. It was Roman.

Mimi Jean Pamfiloff’s God of Wine is snarky paranormal romance at its finest. Her third in the Immortal Matchmakers, Inc. series focuses on the God of Wine and Intoxication, aka Acan, aka Belch. Yes, Belch. And what a fitting name it is for the God who is, well, always partying and intoxicated. However, a seismic shift in the universe has created a change with our Gods who will turn evil (if they are good) and good (if they are evil) unless they find their mate. For Acan, this could spell disaster for millions of people on earth. His powers already are too strong on New Year’s Eve, the holiday where everyone goes crazy with drink and partying. If he were to turn evil before then? Millions could end up dying.

So! Acan needs to figure his crap out, make himself presentable to women so that he’ll have a better chance of attracting his mate, and then make his match with said woman official, all before New Year’s Eve. With New Year’s Eve only a few weeks away, this doesn’t leave a lot of time.

Should be easy, right? Except our lovely Belch is crude, crass, overweight, and often forgetting to wear pants. Sure, he’s hired an assistant to make sure that he at least doesn’t go around streaking people in public, but when he’s always drunk and intoxicated, pants are easy to forego when Belch has no idea where said assistant even is.

Raven and her sister, Cara, are at the mercy of a small detachment of Florentine vampyres, who are delivering them as a peace offering to the feared Curia in Rome.

Though she’s unsure William survived the coup that toppled his principality, Raven is determined to protect her sister at all costs, even if it means challenging Borek, the commander of the detachment.

In an effort to keep Raven from falling into the hands of his enemies, William puts himself at the mercy of the Roman, the dangerous and mysterious vampyre king of Italy. But the Roman is not what he expects…

Alliances and enmities will shift and merge as William struggles to save the woman he loves and his principality, without plunging the vampyre population into a world war.

This stunning conclusion to the Florentine series will take readers across Italy and beyond as the lovers fight to remain together. Forever.

Get a sneak peek at Sylvain Reynard's The Roman (available December 6, 2016) with an exclusive excerpt of a selected scene.

The Prince of Florence strode through the serpentine passage, his heavy boots thumping against the stone floor, his black cape billowing behind him.

He stopped in front of the door that was guarded by two of his soldiers.

“We are departing for Rome. Assemble the men.” He addressed the senior officer, who bowed and marched away, taking the other Florentine with him.

Spoiler Note: This post will contain spoilers for all aired episode of E!'s The Royals and will include speculation for Season 3, which airs Sunday, December 4.

No doubt about it, Season 2 was rough for The Royals fanatics. It doesn’t matter which storyline makes your heart trip a beat, none of the characters had it particularly easy, as the United Kingdom traded one excellent monarch in King Simon for his buffoon of a brother, Cyrus. Because of Queen Helena’s devious playing of one side against the other, her twin spare-heirs were left out in the cold in the line-up to the throne, due to her chocked-up paternity scandal. Now with the kingdom run amok, and the two most upstanding family members dead, Liam and Eleanor were left floundering, and the road for the heart of the whole show—Princess Eleanor and bodyguard Jasper — was the toughest of all. And with Season 3 premiering at the beginning of December, it’s pretty much the best Christmas present for those of us who love an angsty, all the feels romance on TV.

Eddie Rodrigues doesn’t stay in one place long enough to get attached. The only time he broke that rule, things went south fast. Now he’s on the road again, with barely enough cash in his pocket to hop a bus south after his (sort-of-stolen) car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, Midwest, USA.

He’s fine. He’ll manage. Until he watches that girl get hit by a car and left to die.

Local shop owner Grayson Croft isn’t in the habit of doing people any favors. But even a recluse can’t avoid everyone in a town as small as Clear Lake. And when the cop who played Juliet to your Romeo in the high school play asks you to put up her key witness for the night, you say yes.

Now Gray’s got a grouchy glass artist stomping around his big, empty house, and it turns out that he . . . maybe . . . kind of . . . likes the company.

But Eddie Rodrigues never sticks around.

Get a sneak peek at Amy Jo Cousins's Glass Tidings (available December 5, 2016) with an exclusive excerpt of a selected scene.

Gray’s brain flung him out of sleep and into the predawn dark with one burning thought.

Drugs.

After turning down Gray’s offer last night, Eddie had guarded his duffel like Smaug on his pile of gold, huddled over it in the bathroom. Jerking it out of Gray’s hands and hiding it in the guest room as if afraid to leave it out in the open where someone else might be inclined to examine it.

Dear Sweater Weather,

I don't think you realize how great you are. I don't think we always realize how great you are. While we're not looking forward to your seasonal partner, “Dear God Why Is It So Cold Out,” we love you just as you are. You allow us to layer and feel cozy and warm. You let us cuddle with our loved ones, and give us an excuse to stay in and read for three months straight and for that we're eternally grateful.

And you know what else you give us? Dudes that are all bundled up. Scarves and turtlenecks highlighting strong jaws. Intricately patterned sweaters that hide perfectly sculpted six-packs, or so we can only assume.

I'd be remiss if I didn't kick things off with the evening's biggest development... Evelyn caught onto Will's scamming ways!!!!

Just kidding.

GINNY AND MIKE ALMOST KISSED!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!1!1!!!!

Did Jen pick a bad week to go on vacation or what?! Sorry, Jen. But let's get down to business discussing a truly epic episode of Pitch.

The Highlight Reel:

The team stresses about Mike leaving

While Mike tries to keep his possible trade to the Chicago Cubs on the downlow, the media is going berserk and his teammates are starting to worry, including Ginny, who tries to convince him to stay and win a world series with the Padres.

But when another teammate, Butch, comes looking for the scoop about Mike from Ginny, explaining that he thought maybe Mike would open up to her, Ginny gets pretty defensive, rolling her eyes and asking, “Because I'm a girl?” Butch, though, just responds with an exasperated, “No, because you two are so close. It's a compliment, Baker. Lighten up!” You maaaay want to examine your reaction and its root cause, Ginny!

We at Heroes and Heartbreakers are so proud of and thankful for this wonderful community. Thank you for always adding a little extra sparkle to our week. In honor of Fan Friday, we want to give a special shoutout to a few of our favorite comments, and the readers behind them. We love your work!